June 25, 2026
Provided image/Mr. Edison
Mr. Edison, now open inside the Bellevue Hotel, has cocktails and decor inspired by the namesake inventor.
The Bellevue Hotel is honoring an inventor and one of its earliest contractors through a swanky new restaurant.
Mr. Edison, a more current spin on 1940s supper clubs, opened inside the Center City hotel Thursday. This homage to Thomas Edison, who designed the Bellevue's original lighting, is the latest project from Jeffrey Chodorow, the Penn grad and restauranteur behind the China Grill Management group.
Guests can expect fine dining inspired by earlier iterations of Philadelphia's culinary scene. The crab galette, for instance, is modeled after the signature dish from former French restaurant Le Bec-Fin. Chef Matt Levin has also resurrected the namesake salad from Jimmy's Milan, the '50s supper club on 19th Street, and the duck with orange sauce from La Panetière, which once occupied the Tequilas space on Locust.
The burrata salad at Mr. Edison includes melon, 16-month-aged San Daniele prosciutto, pistachio, mint and melon vinaigrette.
Edison may not be an obvious presence on the food menu, but he's all over the cocktail list. The Patent Pending — a blend of duck fat and thyme rye with yellow chartreuse and Punt e Mes vermouth — nods to the inventor's catalog of over 1,000 patents. His late-night work habits are reflected in the restaurant's luxe espresso martini, the Night Watch, while Edison's revolutionary light bulb inspired the blue cheese martini, the Filament No. 6.
The Spanish architecture firm Clavel Arquitectos also wove bits of his bio into the restaurant's design. A dramatic filament light bulb sculpture hangs from the ceiling of the two-level space. Over the bar, a 12-foot-tall Ferris wheel holds top-shelf liquor in its gondolas. When bartenders need one of the bottles, the wheel rotates down on demand.
Mr. Edison is also promising a robust entertainment roster of classical pianists, jazz ensembles, tribute acts and soloists during dinner hours. Late-night programming will begin later this fall.
Chodorow, who will provide seasonal produce from his farm in New Hope, said he was striving for "something that feels effortless but is incredibly intentional behind the scenes."
The Bellevue Hotel's original electrical switchboard designed by Thomas Edison is still kept on the ground floor of the historic building on South Broad Street.
Michael Tanenbaum/PhillyVoice
"Philadelphia has always been an important city for me," he said in a release. "It’s where I spent a formative part of my early career, so coming back to open Mr. Edison feels incredibly meaningful."
The restaurant will be open from 5-11 p.m. Sundays through Thursdays, with dinner service available until 10 p.m. Its hours are later on Fridays and Saturdays, when Mr. Edison is open 5 p.m.-1 a.m. Dinner is served until 11 p.m. those days, and a late-night bar menu will be available until 12:30 a.m.
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